College student dies after wayward tire hits car on Parkway West

Katie Puwalowski, 19, picked up boyfriend at airport

Nineteen-year-old college student Katie Puwalowski had just picked her boyfriend up at the airport late Monday night when a wayward tire came off another vehicle and struck the roof of her car on Interstate 376 (Parkway West).

Nineteen-year-old college student Katie Puwalowski had just picked her boyfriend up at the airport late Monday night when a wayward tire came off another vehicle and struck the roof of her car on Interstate 376.

“It's funny, when I think about it now, I never noticed how much I think about her, how many little things remind me of her,” said friend Jim Utz.

Puwalowski’s boyfriend had just returned from a missionary trip overseas when she picked him up at the airport.

"She loved her boyfriend. They were going to get married. I knew they were going to,” said friend Marina Rutherford.

A message Puwalowski's boyfriend posted on her Facebook page on Valentine’s Day read, “I looked all over the world for magic, but couldn't find a single drop. Then I met Kat Puwalowski and realized where it all went. Happy Valentine's Day, beautiful.”

Puwalowski’s friends said she had gotten her passport with the goal of going on her own missionary trip.

“She just wanted to help people -- that’s all she wanted to do with her life. She wanted to be a great mother,” said Rutherford.

“If you were lost, she’d help you. She was just a great spirit to be around,” said friend Mark Dovi.

Puwalowski’s friends said her family wants that loving spirit to carry on.

“They don't want to think of her as this is it. They want her to continue on. They want people to know she touched us, she taught us so much,” said Rutherford.

Puwalowski would have been a sophomore at Saint Vincent College and was a 2011 graduate of North Catholic High School.

“We extend our prayers and sympathy to her family and friends and others who knew and loved her. Our Campus Ministers and counselors in the Wellness Center are available for our students and anyone who needs support,” St. Vincent President Brother Norman W. Hipps said in a statement.

State police said Puwalowski was headed east, just past the Carnegie onramp, when a tire from an SUV in the westbound lanes came loose at about 11:15 p.m.

The tire bounced over the concrete barrier in the middle of the highway and crossed into the oncoming lane, hitting the roof of her car, police said.

Her boyfriend grabbed the steering wheel and brought the car to a stop on the berm, police said. He was treated and released from the hospital.

The other driver got his SUV under control after the tire came off and was able to pull over to the berm without injury, police said.

The incident is under investigation by police.

As two tractor-trailers approached the crash scene, they also had an accident.

Nobody was injured.

The crashes kept that section of the interstate closed for several hours into early Tuesday morning.

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